Koukotsujoutai
by SMYGO4EVA
Summary: Oneshot. Xing Huo/Fai. In their own ways, they wander through the deepest pits of despair. A continuation of Uttorisaseru, and the conclusion. Cowritten with Any Unborn Child. Warning: lemon.


Koukotsujoutai  
By SMYGO4EVA

A kekkai….

A barrier….

This…

This was…

This was real…

It wasn't….

It wasn't a dream…

It.

Was.

Not.

A.

Dream.

This was real.

Not a dream…

But very much real...

Everything was real.

Everything that happened between them…

Was real…

It wasn't of fiction.

It was all fact.

All truth.

All reality.

All part of reality.

All.

Part.

Of.

Reality.

It was real.

All.

Real.

Vertigo had seized him.

The world was spinning at his feet.

He had fallen.

Fallen hard on the floor.

Of the world that was not of reality.

Created by what darkness was made from humanity's minds.

This was not part of the timeline.

Not at all.

The world suddenly turned black.

The realm was not of a dream.

Not of a fantasy.

_"Where…we are?"_

_"Yes. Where we are."_

_The realm…_

_Where were they?_

_Where were they?_

_How come….they were the ones there?_

_In this…._

_This place….._

_"We're not…we're…somewhere else…entirely. A different place. A different plane of time. We're in…"_

_"We're in…"_

_"A kekkai. Yes, my dear. We are…We're in a different world. Just you. And me."_

The truth.

He felt it in his bones.

The dream became reality.

It wasn't a dream to begin with.

Just a barrier.

That held him.

That held him and the mysterious woman.

The woman….

Xing Huo…

Who was intent on seducing him…

Intent in giving him great pleasure…

And intent on receiving it.

That barrier made that happen.

The twisted fantasy.

It felt…

Unreal…

Unreal…

Unreal…

Unreal...

Unreal...

_Unreal… _

_**Unreal…**_

Black was all that he saw.

Black had clouded his vision.

Pitch black darkness…

It consumed him…

It engulfed his very soul.

He felt this void.

The everlasting void that consumed him.

The sea of night was endless for him.

It carried him.

He was floating.

It felt real, yet it didn't.

Unreal.

In this blackness, he spun out of control.

He still felt as if he was spinning.

Reeling.

Out of control.

Spinning…

Spinning.

Spinning.

Until….

Still…

He felt still…

Vertigo seized him no more.

Blindness seized him no more.

The black sea held in front of his eye began to part ways.

Separating itself.

Mercifully breaking its hold on the magician.

Mercy?

Was it for him?

Was it truly for him?

It couldn't have been….

Could it?

Could it?

Could it?

"_Yuui…"_

A breath was almost silenced.

His name…

His real name…

His _**real**_ name…

"_Yuui…." _

How…

How did….

Who….

Who knew….

"_Yuui…." _

His true name…

His _true _name…

His _**true**_ name?

"_Dear Yuui, it's time to wake up…"_

What…

What was this…?

What was happening?

_You are lost in nightmare  
deep in blue illusion  
one more kiss to wake you up  
come be mine, you are mine_

Colors were existent once more.

The blackness completely diminished.

Albeit blurry and disjointed, vision had been known right then and there.

"_It's time to awaken…my dear Yuui…" _

The view had finally become clear him now.

Clearer than anything else around him.

The one eye wavered.

Looked to the left.

Looked to the right.

There was nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing but empty space.

As if hovering.

Many miles above.

Notes were played in the earthy hue of a sky.

Piano notes.

Pianissimo…

C Major.

D Major.

A Minor.

F Major.

He recognized all of them.

He knew all of them without even realizing.

As if by osmosis.

But why…

Why did the notes flurry around his subconscious, as if in midair?

Why did the notes vibrate and bounce around his psyche, pangs of the familiar reaching to him, his heartstrings, the back of his eyes, his whole being?

For so long they had been dormant – these notes. All of them had been dormant for so long.

They were finally reaching the surface, bubbling at it, hoping for a gasp, a whiff of air, air they so needed to reach.

The magician, the name who had named himself Fai, closed his eye, held a closed hand near his hand.

In remembrance for the emotions, the feelings he no longer allowed himself to feel.

This continued for another moment before his eye shot open at a different sound – the one from moments before – a woman's voice, beckoning, calling him.

"_My dear…where are you…I need you here…here with me…let me smell you…taste you…feel you…and let me feel you…experience you…the entirety of who you are….let me experience this…grant me this wish…" _

The memories flooded back, as so many had before.

_She…The woman….had given him pleasure…_

_A lot of it._

_Possibly making up for his life of torment.._

_The sadness.._

_The loneliness…_

_The loss…_

_With exquisite pain came…_

"_Just give in…"_

_Sublime pleasure…_

_He arched his back…._

_At the torment that made him feel…_

_Feel…_

_Feel.._

_Not sadness…_

_Not pain…_

_But…._

_It was… _

_Why did it…_

_Why did it feel…_

_So needed? _

_So good?_

_So right?_

_"W-W-What are…Why are you doing this to me?"_

_"Because it's fun. Pity. I can't imagine why anyone hasn't taken advantage of someone as beautiful and angelic as you before. You are truly a beautiful creature."_

Her lips lightly kissed his eye patch, what was not there prevalent. Even after all this time, something was still missing from her lovely magician. Something else was still troubling him. No matter. She would change that very quickly.

Momentum.

It took hold of him.

Allowed him to lift himself up from the cold ground.

The magician sat up, though his vision became disjointed once more, and he focused his attention forward.

"You're awake. That's good."

His vision cleared as he began to see the shadow, the frame of the woman kneeling next to him, her voice mellifluous in his ears, as if coating them with a sense of much-needed guidance in his current state.

Blink. Blink.

"You are not feeling well, I assume?"

Snapped out of his stupor, Fai shook his head. "N-N-No, I'm all right – it's just that…."

Stare. Stare.

"Yes…? It is just what…?"

Stare.

Blink.

"Kekkai…"

A small smile framed her lips.

Realization swept over him.

"A barrier..."

Eyes became half-lidded.

His head turned to face the woman.

"You…"

Eyes became closed.

Self-gratification.

"Yes. I pleasured you, dear Yuui."

A shot in his heart.

"You…know my real name…how do you…"

"I've known of your existence for a long time, my dear. My master and I have watched you and your companions, your nakama, for what seems like forever.

The smile grows a little bit wider.

"I have said this before, but looking at you now, your disheveled, _compromising_ position, it is truly a shame that no one has ever pleasured you before. You truly are beautiful…

…dear Yuui."

Fai's eye thins. He looks down at the ground, the feel of icy concrete strangely familiar with his body.

_Why…_

_Why is this…_

"This feels familiar, doesn't it? Knowing that what had occurred feels so wrong, but so right at the same time?"

She waits, placidly eager to see the magician's reaction. Absentmindedly, he nods.

The smile grows even wider.

"It is such a forbidden feeling. Yet it fits in so well with our bodies and our minds, as if climbing in and wriggling more and more as the feeling is explored. When it finally fits into place, we no longer feel it. The explosion of ecstasy is what awaits us, no more, no less, until it is time for the rapture to end, and then all we are left with is the aftermath, the charred remains of a truly violent and beautiful act between two people."

Transfixed, Fai watched as the woman told this to him. She seemed so self-aware, so self-assured, her expression staying the same throughout, her eyes closed and her smile not quite taking up the rest of her face. It was eerie.

"It is beautiful, yet a mortal sin. To feel what is not meant to be felt, that which is reserved for more private matters." Her eyes open, a sideways glance towards her lovely mage. "You may have had these feelings, no? For someone important to you?"

Fai's breathe hitches in his chest. His heart starts pumping faster, his palms becoming slick, almost immediately when that one person's face flashed before him.

Was she…talking about…

"The warrior. That is who you had feelings for. Am I right?"

The smile widens, creating indentations underneath her eyes. It is clear then that she already knew the answer, almost as if she didn't have to wait for his response to figure it out.

He finally responded with, "You really have been watching me, haven't you?"

The woman looked up, not entirely surprised with his reaction. "Ne?"

A smile creeps upon Fai's face, and then suddenly disappears. In an instant, his cerulean eyes become sheets of glass, penetrating the speculating woman's own bottomless, ebony ones.

"You really have. I shouldn't expect anything less from someone so close to their master." The hue of his eyes change somewhat, though not quite. He is clearly thinking of questions, one in particular to ask his captor.

A thought strikes.

He strikes.

"But…wasn't it fortunate…that we didn't find out of your existence sooner…Xing Huo?"

As her name rolled off of the wizard's tongue, the woman in question was taken aback. What exactly did he mean by that?

Seemingly reading Xing Huo's mind, Fai continued, "You could have held us captive with your words – it worked so well with me. Especially me. You really have me all figured out, don't you?" A smile appears once again on the magician's face, though there was nothing behind it. No pretense, no falsehood, no emotion. Nothing.

He had said the same thing to the warrior. To Kurogane. A long time ago.

He had said the same thing to her as well. Not too long ago.

She was seeing a pattern.

Her smile fades somewhat. "I'd like to think that I do. To a perceptive person, you are not that hard to figure out."

"Really now?"

Xing Huo nods. "You really are an interesting creature. A lovely one at that. If we weren't on opposite sides, I'd like to think that we could have been comrades."

Fai's smile stays the way it is. He thinks for a while on how to respond. Could they have…people so alike yet so different…again, she reminded him of someone…

"Because of what we have done to each other, with each other to be precise, I don't know if we could. It's possible, but I don't know exactly."

Again, a reminder.

What was so different then and now?

A laugh escapes his chest. A short one, a throaty one – one he had let escape from the depths of his soul before, during an intensely upsetting time. His fate had been extremely laughable, in the truest ironic sense, and it was that now. Tears now threaten to escape the back of his eye, but they don't come, they stay behind them, and they wait for a more appropriate time. Fai closed his eye, further quelling the tears from coming. He intakes a heap of much-needed air, and exhale roughly.

No more.

He was done.

He was through.

He was through trying.

He had pined too much back then to care anymore.

All at once, more than one feeling bubbles at the surface.

Fai then feels a tug behind him, a weight next to his head; he turns his head slightly, and there she is, cradling him with her arms as you would a close friend or lover, her arms draped over his chest, her long fingers lightly touching the fabric of his clothing, her head propped next to his one.

"Hmm…you poor thing. It must be hard for you to have no human contact when you really want to connect with someone. My dear, my lovely magician, you try so hard to please everyone who is around you yet you push them away so you won't get hurt, or better yet, you don't want to get close because** they** might get hurt."

During this, Xing Huo tenderly let her long fingers make patterns upon Fai's clothed chest, almost abstract to the touch, as her lips gently brushed against his neck and rose to his ear, feeling him shiver and seize at the contact of her lips upon his skin. She then lifted part of his golden blonde hair that fell upon his ear and leaned in so her lips touched the outer shell.

"Isn't that right, _Yuui_?"

A sharp intake of breath was heard.

She smiled a small smile.

She caught him once again.

She caught him in her web once more.

"My pretty magician, you should really know that humans need people, people need people and we all need someone to connect to, even if it was just physical, even if it meant nothing at all. What do you think, hmm?"

Her lips made way downward to his neck, where she made sweet kisses upon his porcelain neck as he started to seize in her grasp, just like the many times before. She lightly blew upon his skin, the icy wind of her breath making him shiver once again, making him frozen under her touch. She smiled as she continued to kiss his neck as her fingers made patterns before they rose up to his collarbone, and slowly shifting to slip under his shirt, feeling the warm skin underneath.

The magician's body seized itself again.

The feel of her gloved fingers upon his hot chest was very much new, yet it felt familiar to him.

Fai arched a little, his breath short but sweet to her ears, his head now resting on her left shoulder, making more access for her to her lips to descend upon the porcelain neck of his before she decided to let her tongue slink out of her mouth and make patterns upon the white marble of the mage's delicious neck.

The mage felt himself slipping.

Truly he was clouded amidst all of this.

Her sensuous hands upon his chest.

Her wet and skillful tongue on his neck.

Slipping….

Slipping…

Sipping….

Slipping…

Drifting…

Drifting….

Drifting…

Drifting…

Drifting…

Wait…

No…

He couldn't…

Be…

Caught in this…

Not again…

Not again…

Easily seduced by her wiles…

No…

He couldn't…

He felt himself regain all thought and feeling back again.

His hand shot up and grabbed her arm.

Swept it out from under his shirt.

Yanked her from behind him.

Twirled her so she would suddenly fall onto the floor.

Landing on her back.

Hard.

A small little grunt was made known from her.

The wind knocked out of her.

She didn't know of his strength until then.

She knew all along.

Yet she didn't expect him to use it now.

The mage looms over her, his breathing hard, ragged, his chest rising up and down, his one eye wide and wild, and a crazed look reserved for the most existential form of survival etched across his face.

No.

No

No.

No.

No.

No.

NO.

NO!

He would not be taken advantage of.

Not again.

Not again.

Not again.

NOT AGAIN.

NOT AGAIN!

He was paralyzed.

Fai was paralyzed by his own actions.

By her actions.

By the many actions and reactions he had been subject to, his own and otherwise.

But not now.

Not now.

Not now, and not ever again.

Xing Huo was in shock.

She looked over at the mage.

She grimaced.

She hurt all over.

She grimaced once more.

Her lovely mage…

He…

He used force upon her…

He just threw her over like a ragdoll.

A ragdoll.

A worthless plaything.

She felt her face twist in a small and quiet rage.

There was no way that was going to happen again.

Not.

Ever.

She saw the regret painted across his face.

Regret.

Regret.

He was fragile after all.

She clenched her fist.

Lifted herself up.

Not sparing him, Xing Huo threw him a fierce look, a sudden flare of misconstrued anger rising in her chest as her eyes thinned as she looked onto his form.

His eye was still widened, but had lost all of the crazed emotions that it had reflected moments before. Instead it reflected intense sadness, sadness and deep regret. Shame.

The tears finally came.

A singular reserve for sadness.

He had felt so much – why did he need to feel more?

The fierce look upon her face faded into the indifferent and stoic she had always had, the rage melted by the single teardrop from his one blue eye.

Cerulean.

The color blue.

The color of sadness.

She couldn't stay mad at him.

Not with tears pouring down his face.

No.

That would be cruel.

That would be inhumane.

A great pull in her chest, a heavy feeling of guilt finally settling in.

She closed her eyes.

Took a deep breath.

Set her eyes on his lone one.

Tears still flowing.

She let her legs curl underneath her.

She crawled over to him.

Slowly,

But surely.

His breath hitches when she lets a gloved hand touch his tear-stained cheek.

Wiping it away.

She leaned in.

He froze.

Her lips met his.

Soft.

Smooth.

Cold as ice.

In contact with warm, tearstained lips.

Canceling each other out.

Warm with cold.

Cold with warm.

Canceling each other out.

Sitting in the silence, their lips touch and nothing comes but the tranquility of the moment.

The mage is speechless.

A loss for words.

Nonetheless, he welcomes her kiss.

His once numb hand works again.

He carefully lifts it up.

Gently places it behind her head.

Deepening the kiss.

To the woman's surprise.

And to his own.

He closed his eye, the illusion of control taking over him, his illusion of taking destiny into his own hands being fulfilled, slowly, surely fulfilled.

Surprised, but contented, Xing Huo closes her own eyes, her own illusion, the illusion of servitude overcoming her own wants.

Whether he knew it or not, Fai did have control over the woman, over Xing Huo. She was allowing herself to be controlled, just like before.

After a long while, they separate, only for Xing Huo to suddenly, and slowly, take off Fai's eyepatch. Furrowing his brow, Fai lets her, his body quivering, not caring though it really did, numb to whatever was being done to him, again not caring anymore.

His eye, or what was left of it, did not faze the woman known as Xing Huo. She leaned forward, her lips touching the eyebrow above, never taking her eyes off of him as she did. Under the touch, Fai was once again numb, paralyzed, unsure what to feel. He couldn't move, couldn't speak – he could not feel the air hitching in the vessel that he called his body, which had been oh so tormented and pleasured many times before.

Xing Huo let her lips brush against the mage's eyebrow before she lowered her mouth to his closed eyelid of the eye that was once there. She lightly kissed it, a long but seemingly sweet kiss that almost took all the anguish that resulted from the loss of his other eye.

Fai let the numbness take over his form when he felt her lips upon the eyelid that once held his other eye.

He felt nothing for once.

He felt nothing.

He.

Felt.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

Before he knew it, her lips moved away from the closed eyelid and he felt her place the eyepatch over it once again, securely over what was lost.

She placed her lips over his, a very familiar feeling yet strangely foreign.

Even if she had kissed him many times.

It would still feel strange to him.

Her hand leaves its post of becoming as numb as he was earlier and she places it on the center of his back, pushing him toward her, deepening the kiss.

Just like he did.

It was a struggle between them.

It was a struggle for dominance.

For control.

For taking control of what was to be their fate.

Whilst her hand was flat on the center of his back, she let the other hand go between them and run her fingers along his chest.

He wasn't numb anymore.

He wasn't.

Partially numb.

Dead to the world.

Part here.

In the now.

The fingers traveled down his chest, along his stomach, and near his lower regions.

This felt familiar to him.

Her lithe fingers danced upon his lower regions, almost feeling quiver under her touch.

She parted her lips from his.

The kiss was through.

Over with.

The lithe fingers traveled slowly to the front of his trousers.

Up to the waist.

Tucked her hand into the ever familiar warmth of his lower regions.

Found the known evidence that made him male.

And firmly grasped it.

Numbness escaped him.

Left him.

Released him.

A chocked gasp left his lips, shaking at the very feel of her warm gloved hand around his member, which has now fully awakened.

Just like many times before.

A small smile marked her lips.

She pushed him against her, so that her hand was in between them and was firmly grasping the hardness that was his. She lightly let a finger stroke the pulsating vein on his member, fully aware what would occur if she did.

He arched his back, a soft anguished/aroused moan fluttered out of his lips, his hands now grabbing her shoulders, his numbness now collapsing and full feeling coming to fruition. His body was betraying him when he fully knew that he was being seduced by her once again, but the feeling that were so forbidden had felt…

Had felt…

They felt….

They felt…

So…

So _good_….

Xing Huo continued her agonizingly slow but very intoxicating ministrations upon Fai's hardness, her fingers ever so delicately stroking every inch of the rock hard member, fully satisfied that he had become more aroused than ever.

Fai bit his lip, pleading her not to continue yet he arched into her hand, becoming more vocal with his feathery and gasping moans that were music to her ears. He ached for the forbidden release; it was becoming too much for him now.

He was feeling again.

Not numb any more.

She shivered at the sound of his soft moans that were made known, but she continued teasing him and making him sing to her when she made her movements upon his member faster, much faster.

His mouth opened in the sweet and beautiful agony that almost suffocated him, as her fingers continued to pleasure him in many more ways than he thought there were. Beads of sweat trailed down his face, his grip on her shoulders getting tighter and tighter, shaking violently in her sweet torment upon him.

She let the hand that was upon his back leave and make its way to his face, reaching, tracing his jaw, his chin, his lips, an almost nonexistent brush against his mouth, and letting the hand stroke his damp blonde hair.

This pleasure was taking too long, so she sped up her hand upon his shaft, hoping to see him react and almost scream in her grasp.

Fai nearly convulsed at what he was feeling, his mind clouded in the shameful pleasure he was subjected to, his face red, his whole body permeated in sweat and vocalizing soft, breathy moans. This was pure torture, feeling so wrong and yet so good, so good, so good, so good, and so good.

"Aah..aaah….aaaahhhh…"

Xing Huo brought him further and further to the release he was aiming for when she moved her hand up and down up and down up and down up and down slow slow slow slow slow slow fast fast fast fast fast fast fast.

She leaned in, her presence drying his red and sweat-tinged skin, her lips brushing against his cheek and pressing her mouth to the outer shell of his ear.

"Just give in."

At that moment, what had become very familiar to him and yet forbidden to him had rendered him powerless.

"Aah.a..ah...aah....aah….aah!"

White hot heat rushed through him like wildfire and he threw back his head, letting out a soft anguished and aroused cry/gasp as he felt himself come into her hand, the beautiful agony overwhelming the magician right then and there.

What was overpowering him….

What was becoming of him….

It was…

It was…

Amazing….

Heavenly…

For a long time, his harsh breathing was the only sound echoing in the barrier that the two of them had been encased in.

Next to him, Xing Huo's breathing was more subdued, but she too was overwhelmed, stunned by what had just taken place. The fingers of her gloves now stuck together, the mage's seed clinging to the fabric. Unlike before, when it was just to tempt him, seduce him into her will, she decided against the act of licking his seed off of her gloves – she liked the feel of the stickiness, the permanence of him in her grasp, even if there was fabric between them.

Fai sat, once more feeling the coolness of the ground permeate and surround him, calming him down. His eye thinned, his brow furrowed in concentration. Something wasn't right…something didn't seem to fit…

"Please…"

The magician's head shot up as he heard the low sultry voice that he had been accompanied by for so long, and turned to the woman, his eye wide in sudden anticipation, sudden need.

"Y-Y-Yes?"

Xing Huo didn't even know why she had said it, the phrase that was so commonplace yet never used as often as it should. It was then that she felt that there was still one more thing that needed to take place. For what reason and founding she didn't know, but all she knew was that she actually needed him. She needed him.

"Please." Her tone is firmer this time, the immeasurable chasm of her intent gaze not once leaving the mirror known as Fai's eyes, letting him know exactly what her craving was.

In an instant, Fai figured it out.

He was needed.

He was called.

He was beckoned.

And so he shall serve.

"As you wish…"

Tentatively, he edges closer to her until his face almost reaches hers. Their eyes never left the other one, their gazes locked into the abysses known as the orbs that housed their souls' deepest desires. Almost as if pulled by invisible chains, the two lean toward each other, Xing Huo laying down on the concrete, Fai bracing himself over her, in an uncharacteristically dominant role.

"Please."

Xing Huo's voice couldn't mask the need that was gnawing at her insides, her body starting to quiver, which started to make Fai anxious and aroused at the same time. He had no idea he could have such an effect on someone. He gave her one of his famous smiles, trying to reassure her, but as soon as it appeared, it disappeared as his nimble hands went under Xing Huo's ruffled skirt, delicately removing her undergarments and slipping them away from her legs – _her milky white, long legs – _and put them aside. Dedication soon turning to worship in his gaze, he quickly unzipped the front of his pants, no longer holding back what was wanted and needed – he cringed, his eye thinned as he felt the cold air hit his member, which was now erect and ready.

Xing Huo at once grabbed his forearms and pulled the mage closer to her, closer to the cold heat emanating from her body, the heat that they both knew was encircling them. Closing his eye and bowing his head, almost by impulse, he edges himself towards the heat of the woman's core, his legs straddling her now vulnerable body, the tip of his member not quite touching the wetness just yet.

Their eyes met.

One.

Last.

Time.

Finally, the magician thrust into the woman, pulling himself into her body, her wetness once again enveloping his shaft – he immediately broke into a sweat as he saw Xing Huo arch her back and silently vocalize a soft, seductive moan, a moan that encompassed what had been held in for far too long. At that moment, Fai could feel indescribable synapses across his body, his soul, his mind, his heart, all of the synapses in his entire being awaken, explode, as he willingly gave himself to her, a noble sacrifice of whatever was left of him.

His hands strengthened their hold onto Xing Huo's shoulders, pulling herself closer to him and pulling himself even further into her, inevitably hearing more of her cries as they quickly became louder by the millisecond. Drawn into intense concentration, he thrust into her wetness again, his own pants of increased effort and pilgrimage becoming louder and impossible to ignore as he kept thrusting, again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again until they both held a distinct rhythm, a beat that was all theirs and it was their own and no one could dare take it away from them.

Neither of them had ever felt like this before.

In those moments, as they held onto one another as if their lives depended on it, they had never felt more needed, more wanted, more of a purpose for simply existing, living, thriving in the harsh multi-verse that they shared, that they inhabited with all their beings, the beings that were now as one.

That.

Were.

Now.

As.

One.

One swift motion, one last thrust into the core of the woman's being, which was truly their own beings, one last moment as a singular being.

Fai let out a choked gasp as the climax sneaks up onto him, his golden eye wide with long-awaited want and need fulfilled, and let his seed escape into Xing Huo's womb, holding tight to her being, in turn Xing Huo holding tightly to him, her anguished/pleasured throaty cry ringing in his ears, her gloved nails making indentations into his clothed skin as they simultaneously finish their union, their harsh, ragged, serrated breathing heavier than in the instances before, more vocal, both of them gasping for air as if it was their primary life source, their throats dry, their lips dry and bloody, their bodies quaking from what had transpired.

Slowly, they separate from one another, and they take much needed bouts of air inside them, their lungs practically aching from the lack of oxygen.

Their hearts were beating rapidly.

His heart pounded.

Her heart hammered.

Slowly, a quiet rhythm was returning.

The slow and heavy breathing was the only sound in the realm that they were in.

It was almost eerie.

Too eerie.

This place…

Was of….

Reality…

But…

Did this mean….

All of what had occurred…

What they did…

Together…

Was…

Actually real?

It felt real.

But too real…..

That it couldn't have been real…

Xing Huo looked at Fai with heavy eyes.

They were darker than usual.

Much darker.

Fai found himself in those eyes.

His reflection.

In her eyes.

As if he was someone she looked for.

Now she had found him.

Xing Huo took a deep breath and crawled over to him.

Fai stiffened, bracing himself but relaxing when she stopped short.

They were two feet from each other.

Images of icy red light came across his eyes.

A red sheath.

A body impaled by the cursed sword.

Sorrow in one's eyes.

Death claiming them.

Great torment.

Great, great torment.

Sapping the blue eye of all its warmth.

Chalcedony-red becoming black.

Blacker than black.

Xing Huo reached out a hand and stroked Fai's face, gently moving it in a regular motion.

The mage took the woman's hand with his own, and pressed it, closing his one eye as if surrendering to the warmth of her hand.

It was all it took before the illusion disappeared…

The hand disappeared…

The woman…

Xing Huo…

The black and red woman…

Disappeared along with it…

In a curse of black flower petals..

Black flower petals,

And blood.

Red liquid.

Life's elixir leaves her.

A hand reaches out to him,

His eye wide in fear.

The hand touches the side of his face.

He is paralyzed with fear,

Fear and confusion.

She starts to speak…

"It's..

…my…

Turn…

…to…act…

…Fai…"

As if she had never left…

She disappears…

Out of his grasp…

Out…

Like a light.

Golden eye wide.

Breath caught in throat.

_I don't understand. _

_I don't understand. _

_I don't understand. _

_I don't understand. _

The illusion shatters.

Pieces of glass flutter beside the magician's head, transfiguring themselves into midair.

Fai's vision fades.

It goes sideways.

He…

Goes…

Away.

Everything…

Goes…

Black. ~

_deep in blue eternity_

_search for liminality_

_deep in blue eternity_

_search for liminality_

_deep in blue eternity_

_search for liminality_

_deep in blue eternity_

_search for liminality_

An eyelid flutters open.

It flutters again.

Feels so heavy…

"Fai-san."

He hears it.

He hears a voice…calling to him.

"Fai-san!"

Sounded like…a boy…Syaoran…

"Fai-san! Fai-san! Wake up!"

Sounded like…a girl…Sakura…

"Fai-san! Fai-san!"

Sounded like…a creature…Mokona…

"Oi, teme! Bastard – wake up! Oi! OI!"

Sounded like…Kurogane.

A golden eye opens.

A breath is taken.

Fai shoots straight up, his head into his hand, a sudden headache taking hold. He looks around. He is in a white bed, the blanket strewn around his legs and waist. He remembered where he was...

That's right…

Infinity…

His companions…his friends…Syaoran, his eyes tinged with concern…Sakura, her fisted hands near her person, worry in her eyes…Mokona, its ever shut eyes indented with apprehension…

Kurogane…his body tense with uneasiness…

Kurogane…

Looking around once more, he is comforted by the sight and concern of those familiar to him.

Everything is all right.

For now, anyway.

He shoots his famous smile at his companions.

"What's wrong? Everything OK? You all look like you've seen a ghost…"

_**FIN**_

_**(A/N: I said this once and I'll say it again: PHEW!!! Jeez Louise this story took a long time to type, not that it wasn't enjoyable to type, but when I first started this endeavor, I never expected it to be this long. Woo whee…**_

_**My sister (Any Unborn Child) and I took turns typing this and this overall took four hours to put together, and we put a LOT of thought into it. I say we did a pretty good job, but what do YOU GUYS think? **_

_**Since canonically speaking Xing Huo was killed before the Infinity arc, and since she appears in Fai's dream/kekkai, it could be that he knew of her existence (based on his experiences with Fei Wong Reed) and not known of it at the time, or it could be something else entirely. She could have been foreshadowing what becomes in Infinity later on; I'm not gonna spoil anything in case anyone hasn't read that arc yet. Whatever. **_

_**This was once again co-written by Any Unborn Child, my twin sister.**___

_**Reviews = LOVE! **_

_**A/N (1): The lyrics that appear in the beginning and the end are from the song "Liminality" by Yuki Kajiura feat. Yuri Kasahara. A really lovely song, if not an eerie one.**_

_**A/N (2) **__**The title 'Koukotsujoutai' means 'state of ecstasy' in Japanese, hence the story.) **_


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